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Kenney Dam Article Draft Section

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I will be using this sandbox to draft the Economic Impact and Kemano Completion Project sections of the Kenney Dam article.

Economic Impact

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Energy Export

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Starting in the 1960s Alcan was no longer producing energy solely for Kitimat's Aluminum smelter. The company had begun selling the extra energy produced by the Kenney Dam to BC Hydro, a publicly owned company. By 1968 Alcan was producing enough energy to allow BC Hydro to delay their proposed $100 million project by 10 years. The project would improve the power transmission system from Prince George, BC and Smithers, BC and the to extend the transmission system further to Terrace, BC.[1] In 1978, when BC Hyrdro's project went forward, Alcan was able to run energy directly into the province's power grid. Because the BC Hydro grid is linked to the North American grid, Alcan began selling energy to Alberta and the United States. [2] In order to meet the energy demands in its new market, Alcan began diverting more water into its reservoir, resulting in lower water levels in the Nachako River. The decrease in water levels provided an increase the water temperatures. By 1980 water temperatures in the Nechako River had risen above what Fisheries and Oceans Canada, commonly known as the DFO, consider to be safe for migrating and spawning salmon. In response to the DFO studies, the federal government asked Alcan to increase water flow from the Nechako Reservoir into the river, Alcan declined. This lead to the "constitutional battle" of who controls the flow of water in the Nechako River.[3]

Kemano Completion Project

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In the late 1970s Alcan announced the Kemano Completion Project. The project would construct a second tunnel from the Nechako Reservoir to Kemano, where four more power generator would be build.[4] Alcan told the province the new power generators would supply three new aluminum smelters the company was going to build in BC and would still sell their extra power back the BC Hydro's grid.[5]

Controversies took off in 1980, starting with the DFO and the federal government when they realized Alcan was going to go ahead with the Kemano Completion project without addressing the already existing water level and temperature concerns.[6] The Kemano Completion Project would result in an additional 12% reduction in the Nechako River water levels.[7] To avoided increased tensions Alcan waited until 1985, while the DFO was preforming studies on the potential effects on the salmon, and then made plans to take the DFO to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.[8] Both parties were armed with their own scientists.[9] However, the issue was never brought to the courts and was settled through the 1987 negotiations involving Alcan, the provincial government and the federal government, resulting in the 1987 settlement agreement.[10] Aspects of the agreement include: Alcan agreed to build a cold water release valve in the Nechako Reservoir to cool the water temperature for the migrating salmon [11] and the company gave up its Nanika River water rights. And the federal and provincial governments agreed to allow Alcan to proceed with its completion project.[12] Critics and opposition governments accused all three parties of not doing a proper environmental assessment.[13]

Alcan failed to live up to its side of the 1987 settlement agreement. There were delays in construction of the cold water valve. At first the water in the reservoir was too cold and contained too much nitrogen, while not enough oxygen. Alcan would have needed to draw water from both the centre and the surface of the reservoir, then run the water through “a hallow cone valve and over a baffle-clock spillway to reduce the amount of nitrogen”.[14] Second delays in the construction were due to a decrease in the demand of aluminum and the economy.[15] By 1992 the cold water release valve had yet to be built.[16]

In the early 1990s there were increased objections to the completion project, both from the public and the newly-elected NDP provincial government, and in 1993 the BC Utilities Commission was directed to conduct public hearings.[17] The hearings began January 17, 1994. They looked at the design and construction of the plans for the facilities required for the completion project, hydrology impacts, fishery impacts and the economic impacts for the people in the surrounding areas.[18] In 1995, due to the potential and unresolved impacts on the salmon fishery, BC Premier Mike Harcourt announced the cancellation of the Kemano Completion Project.[19] However, Alcan had already spent $1.3 billion on the Kemano Completion Project and in 1987 been given permission to continue with the project.[20]

After two years of negotiations Alcan and the government came to an agreement, the 1997 settlement agreement. Alcan committed to spending $50 million on a cold water release facility at Kenney Dam.[21] In addition the government of British Columbia paid Alcan $500 million for what the company had previously invested in the project.[22]

Group feedback

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Tons of good info! I have only a few minor suggestions:

  • The Prince George and Smithers links go to disambiguation pages - I think you need to make the link to "Prince George, B.C." (and same for Smithers).
  • In the second sentence of the Kemano Completion Project section, "generator" needs to be pluralized.
  • Watch out for tense in a few places - I think, in reference to the BCUC hearings, it would be "they looked at the design..." rather than "would look at."
  • You say "Fisheries and Oceans Canada" but also DFO - maybe use "Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)" only, which explains the acronym? Also, you could put a link to the DFO wiki page.

--Ebsutton (talk) 04:38, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

thanks for the feedback!

I had the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada originally but then I realized it is actually called Fisheries and Oceans Canada so I switched it. I had ",the DFO," beside it but I just added "commonly known as..." Does that help? I feel like we should go with the real name? Also, I want to add one more sentence about the BC government having to pay back Alcan in 1997 but I'm having trouble finding the source we found that in. Do you by chance remember what it was? --Tgreer00 (talk) 18:45, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

On second thought after looking at the DFO website, they refer to themselves as "Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)", so that's probably fine. The website re BC government's redress of costs for Alcan under the 1997 agreement is at http://www.kitimatworksmodernization.com/media/media%20materials/RTA%20BC%20Backgrounder.pdf (Rio Tinto Alcan website). --Ebsutton (talk) 00:06, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
Awesome work Tracey! I changed the DFO abbreviation on the actual Kenney Dam wikipage, but otherwise everything looks concise and well organized. Really good call on mentioning the cold water valve as this is a smooth segue into the environmental impact section!

Chuksha (talk) 01:42, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

References

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  1. ^ Christensen, 127.
  2. ^ Christensen, 128.
  3. ^ Christensen, 130.
  4. ^ Wellington, Greenbaum, and Cragg, 137.
  5. ^ Christensen, 132.
  6. ^ Wellington, Greenbaum, and Cragg, 139.
  7. ^ Wellington, Greenbaum, and Cragg, 138.
  8. ^ Christensen, 131.
  9. ^ Wellington, Greenbaum, and Cragg, 139.
  10. ^ Harrison, 303.
  11. ^ Christensen, 163.
  12. ^ Harrison, 303.
  13. ^ Harrison, 304.
  14. ^ Christensen, 179.
  15. ^ Christensen, 179.
  16. ^ Christensen, 189.
  17. ^ Harrison, 303-304.
  18. ^ Christensen, 268.
  19. ^ Christensen, 130.
  20. ^ Harrison, 302.
  21. ^ Bruce Sheedy, Analysis of a Cold Water Release Facility in the Nechako Reservoir. (Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University Library, 2005), 1.
  22. ^ Rio Tinto Alcan. "History in BC. - Background". Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal BC Operations. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
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